London tree planting honours India's First World War soldiers

One hundred and eight trees took root along a part of the Veterans Memorial Parkway in London this weekend. They were planted by a local organization to serve as a living memorial for more than 1.3 million Indian soldiers who fought in the First World War. The memorial is believed to be the only one of its kind in North America.

The Srishti Canada Foundation – a not-for-profit based in London that focuses on Indian culture and community – began raising money for the memorial in February. With about $30,000 in funds from donors and the City of London as well as help from the not-for-profit organization Trees for 3 Dots Planting Inc., Srishti Canada and its volunteers got their hands dirty on Saturday to plant the trees.

The memorial site is at the intersection of Hamilton Road and the Veterans Memorial Parkway.

Vinod Varapravan is an organizer with Srishti Canada who took it upon himself to research India’s efforts in the First World War. He said he spent about three months reading books written by British soldiers and documents from the British Army detailing movements and triumphs of Indian soldiers during the war.

At the time, India was part of the British Commonwealth and joined the war in September, 1914. Indian soldiers fought in Europe, Africa and China and nearly 75,000 Indian troops were killed.

Varapravan thinks details about India’s efforts are not well-known and that it’s important they are highlighted and the soldiers are memorialized.

“I grew up in India with my father being in the army and I didn’t even know about it,” Varapravan said. “So of course in the West no one really talked about it.”

In his research, Varapravan found out Indian soldiers had to overcome many challenges when they reached Europe. He said they fought in the cold, wearing uniforms made for tropical climates and were unable to communicate with others since they mainly spoke Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.

“They were not used to the culture and the cold,” Varapravan said. “They had to overcome so much to fight a war that wasn’t theirs.”

The Srishti Canada Foundation calls this memorial a “living guard of honour” and will be completing it in two phases. Phase one was the tree planting which took place on Saturday.

The number of trees planted – 108 – is important to Indian philosophy. It is a sacred number and can be found in different aspects of Hinduism and yoga. Indian prayer or “mala” beads are always made up of 108 beads, for example.

Varapravan said the next phase for the memorial will take a lot more work and organization.

Phase two will involve ordering a stone monument from India to be placed at the site. The monument will be in the form of a “chhatri” which, loosely translated to English, means umbrella. Varapravan said “chhatris” are typically seen at forts in India to commemorate soldiers.

The next phase also will involve adding walking trails, benches and plaques to the site. Varapravan said he hopes more people will hear about the memorial and be willing to donate to it.

“All we need is one good tweet,” Varapravan said as he half-joked about getting Indian Bollywood star Akshay Kumar’s attention.

Despite the hard work that’s to come, Varapravan said a monument like this is important, especially for Indo-Canadian youths.

“Our children growing up here learn about Vimy and Flanders, which they must, it’s important,” Varapravan said. “But they don’t know about their own ancestors and their identity.”

He said he hopes this memorial will instill a sense of pride amongst Indo-Canadian youths and give people a chance to honour Indian soldiers rightfully.

“We strongly believe that if we’re doing this for a good cause, the universe will co-operate,” Varapravan said. “We’re blessed to be able to do this here.”

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